Drugs,sex and money: Deadly combination that has robbed Bongo Flavour its greatest stars

Trace TV presenter Wayodi Lydia Joy recently broke news on social media of Tanzanian Big Brother Africa's housemate, Nando Khan, battling drug addiction.

The post featured a series of before-and-after pictures of the Big Brother housemate, who featured in the 2014 season named 'The Chase', with drugs having reduced the heartthrob to a shadow of his former self.

A quick look at the then 22-year-old's disqualification and consequent eviction from the reality show reveals he had loudly threatened to stab a fellow housemate, Ghana's Elikem Kumordzie, a behaviour that was intolerable in the house.

"I feel like stabbing him. A ni**a like that deserves to die," he is reported to have said.

The fact that he had concealed a weapon, a pair of scissors, under his bed during a house party did not help his case either.

Further, he had on one occasion claimed that Ghanaian actress, Selly Galley, with whom he had had an under-the-sheet encounter had given him an STD.

 While most saw his stunts as part of spicing up the show, earning him the 'bad boy' title, some of his fans started getting concerned, wondering if he should be taken for psychiatric evaluation.

That was then. Now, he makes yet another sad statistic of the many talented Tanzanian artistes who are wasting away because of drugs.

Chidi Benz is no stranger to the showbiz industry. He was among the biggest Bongo stars.
"I am saddened by the cruelty of people posting his before-and-after photos.

 I called him (Chidi Benz) and told him I wanted to help him, but only if he was ready, and he was," Babu Tale, an artiste manger said of the decision, last year, to help the rapper after seeing him and thinking he was suffering the physical effects of HIV/AIDS.

Ray C, the distractingly hot artiste who had heads turning and necks snapping, plunged into the same drug menace.

 It took the intervention of then Tanzania's president Jakaya Kikwete to pull her out of it. Now running an anti-drugs campaign, she admitted to having been introduced to drugs by her then boyfriend and even sold her house to raise money for drugs.

Then there was Jackie Cliff who was secretly peddling drugs behind her ex Jux and is now paying her dues in China.

We cannot forget, hip-hop artiste Albert Mangwea, popularly known as Ngwair and for his hit song Kimya Kimya who passed on in May 2013 from a combination of drug overdose, alcohol toxicity and exhaustion.

Leading entertainment personality, 'Mzazi' Willy M Tuva, who through his show, Mseto East Africa, has interviewed range of artistes from the region, has observed that artistes who get into drugs are usually at the peak of their music careers.

Usually when at the top, the only other way is down. Remaining number one is harder than becoming number one, or so it is said.

Competition and diminishing fame is usually at the core of such artistes' downfall, and he gives Chidi Benz, an artiste who has had the most collaborations in Tanzania to date, as a stellar example.

"He (Chidi Benz) was known for making songs into hits, just by appearing in them, so much so that he collaborated even with Taarab singers, with his most memorable Taarab collabo being with Yusuf.," Mzazi recalls, adding that the collabo became such a big hit even those who never listened to Taarab enjoyed it.

"He was that big. He had a tight schedule and money was no object, until Diamond stepped onto the scene and took everything.

This did not go down Well with Chidi; they were at loggerheads with Diamond," says 'Mzazi' who points out that, in fact, the song Muziki Gani by Diamond featuring Nay Wamitego was taking a dig at Chidi Benz.

The attention therefore shifted from Chidi Benz to Diamond. As a result, as he confided in Mzazi, things changed. The shows did not come in as they used to and the fame was not as much as before. Money was not coming in, so stress kicked in. He started associating with bad company.

However, Mzazi clarifies that indeed Chidi had used drugs such as bhang even as an artiste but with the fame gone, he got introduced to hard drugs and spent most of his time indulging, now that he did not have much else to do. It was his way of 'managing stress'.

"Most artistes do not save or invest because they think money will always be there. Do not forget to invest," he warns and points out musicians like AY, Jaguar and Diamond who says are set for life, because they have invested and do not need to entirely rely on music to fend for themselves.

"Diamond for instance has invested not only in real estate and other business but in other young talent and has a strategy of how his songs are to be released and how they will become hits.

Had Chidi Benz invested, even with the shift in fame, he would not have indulged in drugs," he opines.
But even with all the fame and money narrative that is commonplace among artistes, what is it about Tanzanian artistes that make them seemingly more susceptible to the drugs menace?

Many other big celebs are said to have fallen into this pit, with a recent photo showing 'before and after' photos of singers like Daz Baba and Ferooz alongside Ray C and Chidi Benz looking wasted thanks to drugs.

T.I.D once served a jail sentence for violent conduct while in a drunken stupor. Rumours abound that he too abuses hard drugs and the once high-flying career of Mr Nice came tumbling thanks to what many believe is alcohol abuse.

"Drugs are available everywhere, in some parts more readily than others," Mzazi weighs in and adds that it could be that some drugs are more easily available in Tanzania.

"We should probably investigate that."

King Kaka, who has a second home in Dar es Salaam agrees. "It is not uncommon to find drugs in areas with a coastal line such Colombia, Tanzania and Kenya because they come by sea.

In Kenya, it is riskier to get drugs to Nairobi where most artistes are based. But that is not to say that those in Nairobi cannot access drugs; only that they are more expensive and not as readily available," he observes.

In addition, Mzazi points out that Bongo is a vast industry that commands a huge fan base and a support that is perplexing - the kind that Kenyan artistes rarely get from fans. As a result there is a lot of pressure and stress that follows, should the fame and fortune dwindle.

Even as artistes graduate from bhang to the hard stuff, a reversal in behaviour is difficult to say the least. "Dawa za unga (hard drugs like cocaine, heroin, and meth) are not like bhang where you can take milk and the high is gone.

 For those hard drugs, when the urge comes calling, you have to get the fix, whatever the cost," explains King Kaka on why Ray C even sold her house to feed the addiction.